Backyard beekeeping on the island of Newfoundland.

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Preview of Do-It-Yourself Escape Boards

Escape boards are used to separate the bees from the honey, kind of a necessary step before harvesting honey. So… I went ahead and made myself some escape boards, also known as clearer boards and possibly known as bee escapes. Here’s a shot of the first one I made:

And it only took me three and a half hours. I didn’t have a model to copy or plans to follow. I sort of smacked them together on the spot using nothing but my brain and some pitiful carpentry skills. The next three boards took about 30 minutes each and the final collection looked like this:

I won’t post a video or any plans that show how I made the escape boards yet because I want to make sure they work first and I’d rather fine tune the process before I say, “Hey kids, follow me!” This post is just a preview of what’s to come.

I have a big pile of excellent videos in the works, but I doubt I can roll them out until I have bees in my backyard again. Driving to and from my hives and preparing my gear before every trip and so on removes the luxury of time I used to have for making instructive videos and taking detailed photos.

I’m still looking for a new place to live / keep my bees. Until I find that place, I’m afraid the best I can manage are photos like these and some short general beekeeping videos once in a while.

All these photos provide a rough sketch of the process of making the escapes boards. At least three or four names exist for every single thing in beekeeping, so don’t sue me if I choose “Quebec style” in reference to this particular escape board design.

Drill a big hole in the centre of a piece of plywood; hammer on little pieces of wood to make a triangular maze; staple some screen over it; nail a rim around the sides of the plywood on each side — and you’re done.

When I post my D.I.Y. plans for making escape boards, I’ll make it easy by uploading a PDF file that provides the actual size of every piece of the little maze section of the escape board (that part took the longest). Then all you have to do is trace the shapes onto the wood and cut them out. No measured angled cuts required. No heavy duty specialized saws required.

I had access to a table saw and a drill, but I’m all about bringing things down to earth and making them accessible to everyone, not just people who can afford fancy power tools.

For more information on escape boards and what they are and how to use them, I recommend checking out Honey Bee Suite.